


don't wanna walk alone

by foxaquinn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Other, Selfship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27762268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxaquinn/pseuds/foxaquinn
Summary: Dakota is bad at keeping secrets, but Dahlia doesn't mind. Proposal fic.
Relationships: dahlia/dakota, self insert/oc - Relationship
Kudos: 3





	don't wanna walk alone

Kota’s never been good at keeping secrets.

But this secret… this one had to stay secret. 

It was one of the biggest and most important secrets he’d ever had to keep. It burned a hole in his chest as he desperately tried to keep it in, but he was determined to make sure that there wasn’t even a hint of it leaked into the world - it was going to be kept under the tightest mental lock and key he could manage.

Of course, he failed.

He failed from the day he attempted to casually ask Dahlia what her ring size was, and she gave him one of those looks that just took him apart from the inside out and figured out every single thought he was having in a split second.

“Six,” she said, and didn’t say anything else, just smiled at him.

“Good to know,” he said, taking another drink of his tea and hoping to God this plan would still work.

He failed again when they were pressed close in bed, moonlight bathing them both, pressing soft kisses to anywhere they could reach.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” he mumbled against her shoulder.

She kissed him. “And I can’t wait until you ask.”

It took everything in him to sigh instead of getting down on one knee right there and then.

(He also failed when he sang a little too loudly, a little too enthusiastically, to Let’s Get Married by Bleachers. If she hadn’t been tipped off before, the way he sang the chorus to her like he meant it more than anything he’d ever sung before probably gave the game up.)

And he fails one more time on the day of, when he wakes her up with breakfast in bed and a kiss, and then insists maybe a little too hard that they go visit the aquarium that day.

“Why are you so keen on the aquarium, darling?” she asks, voice honey sweet and laced with knowing.

“I just really like the aquarium and we haven’t gone in a while!” Dakota insists.

Dahlia laughs, big and full and bright and throwing her head back, and Dakota’s face almost hurts from grinning. “OK, OK, we’ll go,” she says and gives him a peck on the nose. “I can’t wait.”

Dakota grabs her by the jaw and pulls her in for a real kiss. They’ve got time before they have to go. They’ve got all the time in the world.

But he’s also impatient to finally let this fucking secret out into the world, so he makes her get dressed.

An hour later, they’re lazily wandering through the exhibits, watching the fish in a beautiful, comfortable silence, only occasionally cracking a joke or pointing to an especially pretty or fascinating one. It’s a familiar kind of rapport - the silence says just as much as they would to each other, words replaced by fingers tracing circles on the back of the other’s hand and a dopey grin when the other starts raving about a cool exhibit.

And frankly, Dakota would be content to let things go just like this - just another visit to the aquarium, just another beautiful day with his beautiful girlfriend and a beautiful love - but he’s got a special gift shop purchase that’s currently weighing down his bag and a million thoughts and wishes for the future weighing down his head, so he’s gotta do something.

What he does is lead her gently into the glass tunnel - the one with the water and fish all around it, where you can see everything all around you. He clutches her hands, lets himself watch it for a moment before he switches his gaze to her.

He takes the time to study her face - all wide-eyed with childlike fascination. He’s seen her a million times, of course, but never does he fail to feel like he’s in the world’s best dream when he sees her big emerald green eyes, her waves of chocolate brown hair falling down her chest, her sharp features that soften every time she sees him. She’s gorgeous. Fuck, he’s lucky.

He swallows. Now or never.

“Dahlia?” he whispers.

She looks down at him, and he wants to melt instantly. “Yeah?” she whispers back.

“I love you,” he begins quietly. “I am hopelessly, irreversibly, forever in stupid, gay love with you. And I… I adore you. So much. More than words could ever express.”

A smile creeps onto her face, and Dahlia’s smiles always look like love, but this time her grin is radiating adoration. His breath catches for a second, but he continues on.

“And every time I look at you, every time I wake up next to you, it’s like waking up in a dream,” he continues softly. “Like I’m living all my own fantasies all at once, laid out for me in this gorgeous person that loves me just as much as I love her. And I’ve been thinking…”

And that’s when he gets down on one knee. Eyes are on them immediately.

“I… I know I should probably have a ring to do this,” he says. “And I do! I bought rings, I promise, they’re being shipped to the house right now. But I… was too impatient to wait for them. So you’ll have a ring, my love, but for now, I’ve got something else.”

He starts digging around in his backpack, and he pulls out a stuffed white seal, mottled with grey spots. He holds it up, presenting to her like a royal crown, making no attempt to stop the amused, smug grin on his face.

Dahlia bursts into laughter, stumbling backwards and only barely managing to keep a hold on his hands. He’s trying desperately to stifle his own giggling - he knows it’s ridiculous, he’s just gotta get through this.

She stops laughing eventually, wiping away tears. “OK, OK, please continue, darling, please,” she says through the last of her giggles.

“OK,” he says. “OK, well. I think you know what’s coming next. I think you’ve probably known for weeks that I was planning this because I can’t keep a secret from you for the life of me. I think you knew from the moment I accidentally called you my wife and you didn’t correct me. And I’m still gonna tell you that I wanna spend every moment possible of the rest of my life with you, dedicated to you, loving you, even though you probably knew that already too. And I know you feel the same - I know you love me just as much, I know you can’t wait. But I’m gonna ask anyway, so - Dahlia Taylor, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she says, and her voice breaks because she’s choking up now, “yes, yes, yes. Of course, yes. Of course.”

Dakota doesn’t say anything, just stands up and pulls her close and kisses her and lets the feelings of relief and love and excitement and pride and everything else wash over him. He can distantly hear the cheering and clapping of passersby, but that doesn’t matter.

All that matters is that Dahlia Taylor is gonna be his wife.

Holy shit.

Dahlia Taylor is going to be his fucking wife.

He’s so glad that’s not a secret he’ll ever have to keep.


End file.
